"Cross-Grained and Wily Waters" is an absorbing guide to the maritime heritage of the Piscataqua regioon. Combining history and environment, this highly readable guide is the latest in a long tradition of local photo books. Wily Waters includes 240 photos, a small sample shown here, and 75 essays on an enormous range of topics by 41 contributors. Edited by W. Jeffrey Bolster, this sturdy large-format paperback tackles topics including forts, architecture, fish and shellfish, archeology, shipping, the tourist trade, mills, ecology, economy, and on. The book also comes with a separate, fold-out, annotated map of the region, from Seabrook, NH to York, ME. "Wily Waters" (2002) is published by Peter E. Randall. If you can only buy one local book -- this is it. -- JDR

 

The launching of the pleasure gundalow Driftwood in the 1950s at Adams Point, Durham. Gundalows were river-going trucks unique to the Piscataqua region that carried much of the local cargo up and down the Piscataqua waterways. A more recently restored gundalow, named for Capt. Adams who built the vessel shown here, was launched in Portsmouth in the 1980s and is still visible on the river as a reminder of the gundalow tradition. Photo by Doug Armsden, courtesy of the Old Berwick Historical Society.

Salt marsh haying along the Piscataqua, another way in which the river once affected daily life in this region. Photo courtesy of Portsmouth Athenaeum.

Prior to 1960, African American tourists often stayed at black-owned guest houses along the Piscataqua such as Rock Rest in Kittery, Maine. Today, thanks to the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail , modern tourists are learning that this region's African American population has a continuous and distinct local history dating back to 1645. Photo courtesy of Valerie Cunningham.

Sadly, the Stackpole warehouse in Rollinsford, NH was demolished around 1900, and evidence of the region's long maritime history with it. Today the Shaeffe warehouse, with a similar overhanging second story still stands on the Piscataqua at Prescott Park, one of the last indicators of a once bustling seaport. Photo courtesyof the Old Berwick Historical Society.

Both sides of the Piscataqua River have been heavily fortified against invasion since the 1600s. Fort McClary, Fort Foster, For Constitution and others still stand, although none were ever officially used in defense of the region. This photo shows the only active firing of the artillery unit at Fort Deadborn, now Odiorne Point in Rye, on Jone 21, 1941. Photo courtesy of Seacoast Science Center.


Visitors to Strawbery Banke Museum may not recofnize the real Puddledock as it appeared during a low tide in 1899. The watery area is now filled in and forms the center of the museum campus. Courtesy of Strawbery Banke Museum.

Although still a commercial port, Portsmouth has changed greatly since its hardknuckle port stacked with piers. Even in the early 20th century, the wharves and docks were much more common than today. The Memorial Bridge was built on this spot in 1923 and the dock in the foreground now deals with pleasure craft and leads to the Prescott Park garden and outdoor theater. Courtesy Portsmouth Athenaeum.